Maia Ruth Lee Invites Us to Embody the Interval
The works draw on motifs of migration, but the motifs themselves migrate across the gallery.
Maia Ruth Lee's solo exhibition at Tina Kim Gallery, titled "Double Vision," transcends traditional translation. Instead of delivering a message, it invites viewers to embody the act of translation itself. Just as her parents, who were Bible translators who ventured to Nepal and crafted a written alphabet for the Sherpa language, Lee explores translation through her art.
Grid-like patterns reminiscent of luggage at Kathmandu airport, mysterious symbols, and images from her family archive form a consistent visual language throughout her new show. Across various mediums such as canvas, latex, and steel, Lee's works weave together the themes of migration. However, these motifs don't remain static; they shift and transform across the gallery, taking on new forms in the process.
For instance, the stacking in her B.B. Tetris series (all 2026), evokes a sense of playfulness, while in "Expandable Luggage" (2026), the growing height conveys a weighty sense of migration. In this context, translation serves as a form of migration, where some elements persist while others are left behind.
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